Method of reducing refractory material.



J. W. EVANS.

METHOD OF BEDUCING REFRAGTORY MATERIAL. APPLIGATION HLBD JULY 15, 1909.

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FUNITED STATES ATEN 'Il OFFICE.

.TOI-IN W. EVANS, OF BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA.

METHOD`OF REDUCING REFRACTORY MATERIAL.

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Beit known that I, JOHN W. EVANS, a Subject of the' King of England, andresident of Belleville, in the Province of'Ontario and Dominion ofCanada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in -Methods ofReducing Refractory Material,

of which the following is a specification.

through a accordance electrodes may be The object of` my invention is toreduce refractory material of various kinds.

My invention particularly is adapted to l the production of steel,malleable iron, or pig iron direct from 'iron ore, and particularly fromore containing titanium, or titanium and vanadium, whereby a hard, toughsteel may be produced without requir- ,ing the production of pig ironfrom which steel is to be made, and without requiring the `use ofthei'air blast in the production of the steel.

By means of my improvements steel may be produced direct from ironwithout saturating the ore or metal with carbon as I am enabled to use arelatively small quantity of carbon to produce the desired results,thereby reducing 'the cost incident to the use of van excess of carbonin the production of steel.

Inl carrying out my invention for the production of steel I subject ironore that is mixed with `the proper amount of reducing agents and'uXingmaterial to the action of an electric are to form slag on the surface ofthe ore, then cut off said are and next heat such molten mass by passingelectric current portion of the same, whereby the molten metal will sinkto thc bottom of the furnace and vthe slag and metal may be drawn olfseparately.

In producing steel direct from iron ore in with my invention 10% byweight of suitable earbonaoeous material, such as charcoal and tar, maybe mixed with 9.0% by Weight of iron ore and luxing material,which-:mixture is then placed in a furnace and subjected to the`reflected heat from an electric are, and/next to the current flowingthrough a portion of the molten mass by causing electrodes to enter thesame. Any further carbon required may be supplied to the mass byregulatingthe length of time that the electrodes engage the molten mass,`whereby some of the carbon of the taken up in the mass,- or furthercarbon may be added to the mass as required. Said proportions ofingredients Specification of Letters Patent.

may be varied in accordance with the character of steel desired and thequality of the ore treated.

To produce malleable iron in accordance with my invention a smallerquantity of carbon will bc required, mixed with the ore and iiuxingmaterial, than for making steel, and such carbon as enters the mass fromthe electrodes in contact therewith will also supply a proportion of thecarbon required.

Vtvhere pig iron is to be produced according to my invention thecarbonaceous 'matter will be supplied to the ore in approximately therequired amount irrespective of such carbon as may become mixed with themolten mass from the heated electrodes that enter the same.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated an apparatus adapted tocarry out my invention, wherein,

Figure l is a vertical adapted for the production of steel, malleableiron, or pig iron, and Fig. 2 is a cross section thereof en the line 9.,9. in Fig. l.

Similar numerals of reference indicate correspondinot parts in theseveral views.

In the raw'ngs the numeral l indicates a furnace whiclmav be of anysuitable construction and is preferably provided with an section of afurnace arched inner chamber into which the ores or other material to betreated may be passed through a suitable hopper 2 shown provided with aplug or stopper 3 having a suitable vent 4 for gases, the. out-let forslag being shown at 5 and the' outlet for metal at 6. Said chamber ispractically air tight to ex- 'clude the atmosphere during operation.

At` 7 are substantially horizontally disposed electrodes shown passingthrough suitable openings in the side walls of the furnace and providedwith suitable waterjackets 8, with suitable insulation. Any suitablemeans may be provided for supporting and perating said electrodes. Ihave shown Said electrodes connected with rods 9 passingthrough'stutfing boxes l() and having racks 9 engaged by pinions 11carried'by shafts 12 supported by brackets 13, whereby the electrodesmay be operated.' Said electrodes are located in such osition as toproduce the electric arc above the level of the ore or other material inthe furnace, so as to heat the same by the reflected heat from the are.

At l5 are substantially vertically disposed electrodes passingdownwardly through the top of the furnace and at a suitable distancePatented June 7, 1910.l Application filed July 15, 1909. Serial No.507,681.

.,. 27, and suitable switches will be arranged in electrodes 15 beinglocated on opposite sides of the vertical center of the furnace andvpreferably somewhat near the side walls of the furnace enable heat fromarcs formed between the corresponding electrodes 7 and 15 to be appliedover the material to be melted at the sides of the central portion ofsuch material. By placing the electrodes 15 at one side of the path ortrodes 7 the arc may be formed between the latter electrodes while atthe same time the electrodes 15 enter the material to heat the latter bythe passage of current therethrough.

The electrodes 15 are-shown protected water-jackets 16 and suitableinsulation, said electrodes being shown connected with rods 1'7 providedwith racks 18 engaged by pinions 19 for operating the electrodes. Forconvenience in operating the electrodes 15 I have shown worms 20 meshingwith pinions 19 and carried by shafts 21 inclining downwardly andprovided with operating wheels A22- located adjacent wheels 12 of shafts12, so that the operator may readily operate said wheels as required,shafts 21 being provided with insulation 23 at the bearings on supports24, brackets 2O:L being insulated from the casing. Conductors 2G will beconnected with the respective electrodes in any suitable manner, as byclips the circuits so that currentmay be directed through the electrodes7 for the horizontal reflected arc, or through electrodes 15 for passagethrough the material to be melted, or through the pairs of electrodes 7,15 at opposite sides ofthe furnace as required. The metal outlet 6 inthe furnace may be closed in usual manner by a plug 29.

The metal to be treated, such as iron ore, mixed with any suitable fluxand 'reducing agents, such as limestone, charcoal and tar, or other formof carbon, will be illed into the furnace to a suitable level, as abovethe slag outlet 5. Electrodes 15 will be raised and current caused toflow through electrodes 7 to produce a substantially horizontal arc overthe material, and by the form of the furnace shown the are will becaused to melt the material at the upper portion producing sla@ thereon.When. the metal 'is 'sulhciently meilted by the reflected heat fromplane of electhe arc the electrodes 7 are withdrawn, (as indicated atthe left in Fig. 1,) and then the electrodes 15 will be lowered intothe( slag as far as desired, and the current then) assed throughelectrodes l5 and the slag, whereby the material will be melted and theslag drawn off as required. In case the material at one or both sidesofthe furnace.

cools ofi' or is not sufliciently melted the electrodcs 7 and 15 at suchside or'sides of the furnace will be adjusted in suchposition astoproduce an arc between them, and such arc will serve to further meltsuch 'metal at the corresponding side of the furnace, it beingunderstood that the are between electrodes 7 and 15 at either or bothsides. of the furnace may be used as required. It will thus beunderstood that at any time during the operation the electrodes 7 or theelectrodes 15 can be brought into operation as desired, by merelysubstituting one set in operating position for the other, and passingthe current through the same, orv the pairs of electrodes 7 and 15 maybe brought into use as required. j

By means of my invention steel may be made direct from-iron ore, inwhich case the ore will be mixed withthe proper amount of flux andcarbonaceous material so proportioned that only enough is allowed forthe reduction of the ore. The arc is iirst used, and then when asuitable amount of slag is formed the electrodes 7 are withdrawn or thecurrent eut off, the electrodes 15` are lowered into the slag therebyreducing the amount of electric energy required, and toward the end' ofthe operation, as when the material has been reduced to the desiredextent, the electrodes 15 are or may be withdrawn from the material andVthe horizontal electrodes. again used to produce the arc to refine themetal and keep the percentage of carbon to the amount required.FurtheI-, more, my furnace is particularly adapted to treat-ing orecontaining titanium and vanadium, and by suitably regulating thequantity of limestone, sulfur and. titanium can bc slagged olf and finesteel can be obtained, or if a hard tool steel is desired when treatingtitaniferous iron ores less limestone may be used, and by regulating thequantity thereof any desired proportion of titanium can be' retained inthe steel. Malleable iron may be produced from iron ore by mixing withthe ore the required quantity of carbon and liuxing material, which willbe'less than for making steel from such ore, and where pig iron is tobeproduced the carbonaceous matter will be supplied to the requiredamount. In either case note will be taken of any carbon that would'enter the mass from the vertical electrodes 15 when in contacttherewith. Other ores or materials may be reduced by means of myinvention by vthe use of thearc from'the horizontal electrodes 7 and theheat from the electric current passed through the molten materialthrough the Vertical electrodes 15 that enter the melted mass. Myinvention is, therefore, applicable to the reductiontof highlyrefractory materials of Various kinds b reason of the facility withwhich the top portion of the material may be melted by the arc, and theoperation continued by the current passing through said melted materialfrom the Vertical electrodes, and by the further facility with which thematerial at lthe sides of the furnace may be heated when required byeither .pair of electrodes 7 and l5 or byboth pairs.

My invention ris also applicable to the Atreatment of ores high insulfur from which mild steel low in sulfur may be obtained.

By adding desired quantities of titaniferous "m suligtable fluxes whichare used in the charge.

ironpores or small amounts of titanium or titanium a'lloys largepercentages of sulfur ma be eliminated from sulfurous iron ores an a hih grade tool steel obtained, the amount of titanium retained in thesteel be# Varied by the amount of limestone or I `do not in thisapplication claim the mechanism hereinv set forth, as that is emi bracedWithin a separate application for said heated mass to patent filed by meon July 15, 1909. Serial tNo. 507,680. i

Having now describediiny invention what I claimis:

l. The method of reducing refractory ma terial consisting iniirstapplying heat to a body of material by an arc Without the maeterial to produce a molten mass, then cutting 0E suoli are', and nextheating said molten mass by passing electric current through a portionof the same. 2. The method of reducing refractory material consisting insubjecting the same to the .action of an arc at an approximately centralportion of the body of material, subjecting said material to an arc at adistance from said central portion, and subjecting electric currentpassing through a portion of the same.

3. The method of reducing ore consisting in first subjecting-a suitableore mixture to the'action of an arc to produceslag on the mass, thencutting olf said arc, and next heating said mass by passing electriccurrent through a portion of the saine.

4. The method of reducing ore consisting in subjecting a suitable oremixture to the action ofan arc at an approximately central portion ofsaid mixture to produce slag on the mass, subjecting said mass to an arcat a distance from said central portion, and subpassing through thesame.

5. The method of producing steel direct from iron ore consisting infirst subjecting a mixture of iron ore, cai-bon and iiux to the actionof an are to produce slag on the mass, then cutting off said arc, andnext heating said molten mass by passing electric current through aportion of the same. v

6. The method of producing .steel direct from iron ore consistinginfirst subjecting amixture of iron ore, carbon and iiux to the actionof the reflected heat from an arc at approximately the central portionvof said Vjepting said molten mass to electric current" ing said moltenmass by applying heat to the same from an electric arc. y

Signed at New York city, in the countyof New York, and State of NewYork, this 2nd day of July, A. D. 1909.

JOHN W. EVANS.

Vitnesses HARooUR'r BULL, T. F. BoURNn.

